Changing the Plan
by EternalDreamer10
Summary: Jacob and Bella's future was all mapped out, but life is all about unexpected detours. Now officially complete. AU AH
1. Fighting Chance

Disclaimer:: Everything belongs to the wondrous Stephenie Meyer!

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"You shouldn't be here." She watched through the reflection of the vanity mirror as his head dropped, looking as though the carpet had become the most interesting thing in his world.

It was true, he shouldn't have been there. He really didn't know why he was. He had received the invitation three months ago; hand delivered by the woman in the white gown sitting in front of him.

His heart cracked a little as she stood in his doorway and handed him an envelope with his name in elegant script typed across the front. He knew what was inside. He knew from the day they met that she was engaged to be married.

He tried as hard as he could to quell the feelings he had developed from the first moment their eyes met in that little bookstore next to his sister's shop. He had learned early on about her long standing relationship with Jacob Black. Try as he did, he couldn't help but become a little more enamored with her every time they came in contact.

There is something to that saying "you want what you can't have." While it rang true, this thing between them was something more than that. She was hard to read and he was the best reader around. He spent the better part of his whole life picking every person he had ever met apart until he found the flaws.

To him, Bella Swan had no flaws.

Which all led to this one moment. Him, Edward Cullen, standing in her wedding chamber - a place he never imagined he would be - about to fight for her; something he was to cowardly to do before. Because seeing her in the wedding dress had made it real. If he didn't do it now he may never have the chance; and it was obvious that without her, he couldn't exist.

They had never touched besides the few friendly hugs and one glorious kiss on the cheek from her. She had always been spoken for, but in spite of it all, they had forged a bond; one he thought was unbreakable. Standing in her room now, watching as she nervously played with the brush in her hands, he wondered if maybe it wasn't enough.

In four short months, he had been the one she came running too, he had been the shoulder she cried on, and he had been the one she laughed with. They had shared secrets, dreams, stories. While they tried to keep their feelings for eachother hidden, no one could deny the spark that could always be felt when they were together.

It took nine months before it became too much. She had tripped down the stairs – in true Bella fashion - and he caught her. The tension between the two had intensified tenfold, there lips landing centimeters apart, both stuck in a staring contest that spoke volumes between them. She forgot everything in that moment as they both stood so close to what they both wanted. Only to be pulled back to reality as Alice burst through the door, yelling things about invitations and table cloth colors. That was the last time Bella saw Edward, aside from the day she gave him his invitation. She had to remove herself from temptation, but thought about him everyday.

She felt guilty for everything she had done to Jacob. For an engaged couple, Jacob and Bella rarely spent time together. They fought all the time and in a way she felt trapped in this life and sometimes she took it out on him. While they had there problems, there relationship was built on comfort and stability. Both of them knew that that was all it would ever be. But sometimes knowing that the other person would never stray is enough to keep her there.

"I had to come." He said forcefully, finally gathering the courage he so desperately needed for this conversation.

"Why now? On the day of my wedding... you wait until now."

Neither of them had ever spoken of their true feelings for eachother until today. Really, what is the point in hiding it anymore. Today was the end of it anyway. They were both determined to walk away from this room with no regrets. So they were finally going to be honest.

He studied her face through the mirror. Noticed the slight downward curve to her lips, the worry lines formed on her forehead. "You don't really want to marry him Bella."

His statement irritated her. How he could just know something that she hadn't even fully admitted to herself. There was nothing she could do now, it was out of her hands.

"Two years ago Jacob asked me to marry him and I said yes. I made a promise that day and I wont back out of it now."

She made a promise, that was always her excuse. Because she said yes along time ago. He remembered a previous conversation they had on one of the rare days where Alice wasn't around when Bella stopped by. She had told him she bought the bookshop because it was always her father's dream that she would take over her mother's work, but secretly she wanted to be a writer. She confessed to him that she would never get that chance since the bookstore took all of her time. She told him how she wanted to move to the big city, but her father had bought her a house here in Forks and she couldn't turn him down. She told him how her father and Jake's father were best friends and had been pushing the two together since they were kids. Nothing ever seemed to be her choice. Someone was always making the decisions for her.

"Why did you say yes? Huh? Was it because you really loved him? Or was it because it was what everyone expected of you?" He was being callous, but he wanted to hurt her. He wanted her to react; to recognize the truth for what it was.

"Oh, that's rich Edward. You think you have me all figured out don't you? I couldn't possibly want to marry Jacob. I have been secretly waiting for you to barge in and save me this whole time." She snapped sarcastically. She was standing now, fists balled at her sides, as she felt her face redden with the heat of her anger.

His eyes snapped to hers and he was sure she could see the disbelief in his eyes.

"You think I don't know you? What about moving to Seattle so you can be close to the literary scene? What about those notebooks you keep in that box in your closet? When are you going to do something you want to do? When is it going to be your choice?"

They had never fought before. He had always been kind and understanding towards her. When she fought with Jacob, he would hold her while she cried; listened as she swore that it was the final straw; never judged when she inevitably went back.

"I haven't deluded myself enough to think that you don't actually love him Bella. But you love me too and you know it." He was pacing now, suddenly to scared to look at her face, just in case everything he believed was wrong. "You would be happier with me. You could write all those books you want to. You have a brilliant mind and I know you could make it if you would just give yourself the chance. We could move to Seattle. I would pack my stuff up today and we could go live your dream. I would be more than happy just being by your side."

Tears streamed down her face as she listened to the dream she desperately wanted to live. She believed everything he said. She knew from the bottom of her heart that every single word was honest.

"And I would be completely happy just to follow you around. Because I want to see you smile everyday, I want to be there when you wake up every morning with sleep in your eyes and your hair all a mess. You would complain about morning breath because you always worry about the most insignificant things, and I would tell you I don't care. It would be nothing but the truth because you could be covered in crap and I would still want to be near you." Two sets of tears were now flowing freely. Edward was moving closer to her with every word he spoke until he was close enough to feel her labored breathing and he swore he could hear the faint sound of her hammering heart beat. " I never want to be anywhere but by your side."

Edward kissed her then. He put everything he had into that one kiss; trying to make her see the life they could have together; trying to change her mind. And Bella saw it all in that moment; big city lights, days spent in an office surrounded in books as she furiously typed away, nights spent wrapped in his arms, copper-haired children running in the back yard. She threw herself into the kiss, trying to make him see that she needed him just as much as he needed her.

She wept for this piece of heaven that would be so short lived. Nothing could change what was already set in motion. She desperately wanted to run away with him, leave this planned out life behind, but she couldn't turn her back on the people waiting for her in that chapel. Bella had never been one to disappoint and there were two hundred or so people counting on her now.

She ended the kiss. She left him standing in front of her with his eyes clamped shut, awaiting the inevitable. After all, Edward knew Bella best, and he knew nothing had changed.

"You're right Edward, I am in love with you...but I think you should go now." She kissed the top of his head and opened the door keeping her eyes glued to the carpet as he walked out of her life.

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**AN: Well, this is not how the story ends in my head. So! I may or may not continue this. Let me know what you think! Please review! New writer and I need to know if all this is pointless XP!**


	2. Changes

**Disclaimer: All credit for all things Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer**

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Jacob was ready for this. Yes, Bella and Jacob had there differences, but that fairytale-sorta-perfect love just isn't a reality. Jacob's love for her was his reality. To him, anything else would be manageable.

Jacob took comfort in knowing his life was turning out the exact way he had planned. His father had made sure he knew as a small boy where he was going. He was to be the next leader of their tribe and it was always intended that Bella be his partner in life.

He thought it was the perfect situation really… their dads being best friends, then Jacob and Bella becoming best friends; the natural progression all led to this.

Following wedding traditions, he had one more thing to do before he took his spot at the alter. It was time for the pre-wedding gift he had made for her months ago. She always called him her own personal sun and on her 16th birthday Jacob had given her a charm bracelet with a little golden sun as a reminder of their bond. Now, as they were preparing to set off on the next chapter of their lives, he had another charm to add to it. A small wooden wolf was tucked away in an envelope, encased in a letter written by Jacob himself. He decided on the wolf as a reminder of where their life was headed.

Walking out of the groom's chamber, Jacob couldn't help but acknowledge the nerves that were steadily setting in. While he knew this day was coming for years, he also knew that Bella had changed at some point in the past year. And walking towards the bride's chamber, noticing Alice in her emerald green Maid of Honor gown, he couldn't help but wonder if her appearance in their lives had anything to do with it. Or, if her brother, the one he used to hear so much about, was the cause.

Something about the way Alice was pacing back and forth in a flurry of movements, hand gestures, and mumbled words struck Jacob as an odd thing to do when one is suppose to be assisting the bride.

His once dry palms were now starting to develop a pool of salty liquid as he realized something was not right.

"Alice? What's wrong? Why aren't you in there with Bella?" Jacob couldn't help but notice how Alice froze without turning at the sound of his deep voice. Or the way she had to inhale an unnecessarily large breath before she turned to acknowledge him.

"Jacob! What are you doing here? You know it's bad luck to see the bride before she walks down the aisle." Words said with fake sincerity and cheer. He didn't fail to notice the deflection of his previous questions.

"Cut the crap, Alice. What's going on?" As he came closer and closer to the door he couldn't help but notice that there was a male voice coming from the other side.

Jacob was fuming now. Not only was there another man shut in a room with his would be bride, but it seemed as though the would be Maid of Honor was trying to hide it from him.

"Who the hell is in there with her?" He all but yelled as Alice frantically pulled on his coat sleeve in a desperate attempt to put space between the angry groom and the entrance to his heartbreak.

"Shhh.. Jacob! You need to calm down." Her voice was low and urgent. Her eyes where flashing from his face back to the door that was now far enough away that it provided no chance of eavesdropping.

He tried his hardest to keep his anger in check. Knowing your future wife was shut in a room with another man was a hard pill to swallow. The only thing that might make it go down quicker would be to know the face behind the voice, but he could tell by the look on Alice's face that it wasn't going to be an answer he liked.

He watched as she took another one of her long deep breaths and concentrated on the wall behind him.

"It's Edward." She said so quietly that he all but missed it. Yet he couldn't lie to himself and feign surprise. His vision clouded over red. He had only met Edward one time, but it was enough to see that Edward was interested in far more than a friendship when it came to his Bella.

Jacob wasn't going to be a bystander to whatever was going on in there; whatever conversation was going on, it was going to stop now.

As he moved towards the door with a look of pure hate etched across his features, little 5'2" Alice had to all but throw herself in his path to make him stop.

"Look, you can't just go barging in there all neanderthal like, what would Bella think of you then?" She made a good point.

"Well what the hell is going on in there? What gives him the right to be in there on our wedding day?" He didn't want Bella to be mad at him on today of all days, but he had to know why it was happening in the first place.

"I don't know exactly what is being said in there, but I know the conversation has to happen. I don't, however, think you need to worry. She is here, Jacob. She wouldn't be in that wedding dress if she wasn't going to go through with it." She made a valuable point. Jacob knew Bella was a creature of unwavering decisions, and once she said yes, she sealed her own fate. But he couldn't miss the look of sadness that past Alice's features. It was almost too quick to catch as she schooled her expression into one of concern. It made him wonder for a moment...Was she sad for him, or sad for her brother? Who was probably choosing this moment to reveal his true feelings as a last ditch effort to ruin everything.

As he was about to ask her the very same question that had popped into his head, they both froze at the sound of the door knob being turned.

Jacob watched as the man who was trying to take away his future leave the room with tear streaked cheeks and a look of utter anguish in his eyes. He could feel his shit eating grin spread across his face as he realized that he had won the battle he didn't even know he was fighting.

Almost as quickly as his feelings of victory arrived, they were wiped away as he watched in stunned disbelief as his once strong Bella crumbled to the ground in the entrance as a strangled sob was wrenched from her throat.

He made a move to comfort her. Alice quickly blocked his path once again. With her own eyes glossing over, she assured him that she would handle this and he should finish getting ready. He watched as Alice ran to comfort her best friend. While he knew he should be the one pulling her back together, he needed time to think.

Jacob's whole entire world had just shifted. He had never, in his whole entire time of knowing Bella, seen her crumble so completely. Never before had he seen such sorrow in those eyes. He could have sworn on his life that those eyes he had been looking into for years had lost a little of that spark he so depended on. He wondered if it would ever come back again.

The sounds of Bella's cries were getting quieter as he ran back to his room; running from the pain he saw there; knowing that he had know idea how to fix it. All Jacob ever wanted was for Bella to be happy. He once thought it was him that made those eyes shine. Now, he didn't know what to do.

He use to think he had it all figured out. His life was a serious of points crossed off on a list. This, this was not part of the plan.

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**A/N: Woo! Chapter 2 only took me forever to write! One more chapter until it is officially complete. Hope you all like it! Please review, your opinions mean a lot.**


	3. Consequences

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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He had been ten feet away from his happiness. While he knew it was too late to change what had already played out, he wondered if he could have tried harder, acted sooner… if he could have been just a little more selfish in order to keep her around. But this was his Bella he was talking about, and he knew the moment he saw her today that it would always turn out this way.

He sat on the marbled church steps looking out at the ocean waiting for everyone to leave, wondering how he would face them all tomorrow. They all came here to witness a marriage… not a twisted love triangle thrust into public knowledge by the would be scorned brother of the maid of honor.

He should have been at home by now, there really was no reason to stay, but he couldn't leave yet. He didn't want to walk into his home alone when they were suppose to arrive there together.

Up until this point all the guests had just passed him by, leaving him untouched. Sure, from time to time he would hear the grumblings of a disgruntled guest, but no one dared to approach him. It would seem this was about to change.

He could hear the clicking of heals approaching; he could tell by the pause in the entrance that this person wouldn't be ignoring him like the rest.

Yet, he wasn't afraid. He could tell by the length of the strides, and the slightly quickened steps that this was none other than the maid of honor, and she couldn't possibly be mad at him, of all people.

As she came to a stop next to him and calmly sat by his side, she didn't say anything; just let out one of those infuriatingly long sighs of hers. She adopted his same pose: elbows on knees, chin on palms, line of sight towards the ocean.

They sat together like that until it seemed as if everyone else had finally gone. It briefly crossed his mind that she must have sent her boyfriend off to carry out the rest of her duties.

Alice had done her job well. Once the proverbial crap had hit the fan, she made sure everything went as smoothly as it could under the circumstances. She played the best friend card perfectly, and now it seemed that she was going to lend some care to him.

"Are you okay?"

He hated that question. It was the universal go to question when things seem like they most definitely won't be okay. He just let the love of his life walk out of here with another man. He had just found out that he wasn't good enough to make her stay.

"Do I have a choice?" He answered. He wanted to be angry, but he just didn't have it in him.

She turned to face him then and smiled a sad little smile.

"You did the right thing in there. You wouldn't have wanted to look back on this day wondering if you wouldn't have given her the choice, how it would have all turned out."

No regrets, isn't that what they always say? Never be left to wonder. The problem with no regrets is that it doesn't always work in your favor.

"I don't know how to be without her. I was so sure she would always pick me."

He still couldn't quite believe she didn't. But it didn't matter now, nothing could change the fact that she wasn't coming back to him.

"Would you have done the same thing? If it was Jasper? Would you have acted the same?" He needed some kind of reassurance.

"You mean find out the man I was suppose to marry was in love with another woman, then witness him tell that woman no and still call off the wedding?"

It sounded stupid to Jacob now. Bella had told Edward no; Jacob witnessed the whole thing.

But, he had also seen the aftermath.

After Alice had ran to comfort Bella, he had walked back to his changing room. Needing time to think, he walked past all his groomsmen and locked himself in the bathroom. He thought seriously about killing Edward; it would solve things pretty easily, but that wouldn't look good for a future tribe leader. He thought about simply forgetting that he had seen anything. While that seemed like a good idea, he just couldn't stop thinking that Edward would always be in the back of her mind. She would hide it well, of course. Hell, she hid her feelings for Edward so well those previous months that he hadn't even noticed.

It was true that Edward's feelings were plain as day whenever Jacob would see him with her, but he never thought to look at Bella. Too blinded by jealousy to see that she probably had the same look in her eyes as he.

In spite of all of it, he had almost convinced himself to go through with it and marry her anyways. Eventually she would forget about Edward. Besides, he loved her too; that had to count for something.

Then, he would remember her crumpled form in the doorway. He would remember the look in her eyes; that look of someone dying. He realized then that she had shut down some part of her core; the part that held her feelings for another. He knew that he would never truly have all of her; that piece would always be Edwards and it was too big to ignore.

So, ignoring the troubled looks of his groomsmen, he had walked straight back to the bridal chamber. He stood just outside the open door and watched as Alice fixed Bella up. She had stopped crying by the time he returned, but in the absence of tears her eyes still showed her pain. So, he had pulled Bella aside, explained how he knew everything, explained that he couldn't marry her, told her she was free.

"I don't know what made you do it. Honestly, I thought you would have marched down that aisle in victory, maybe do a little jig down the middle." The corners of Alice's mouth twitched into a slight smile, making Jacob smile in return, because that sounded pretty good to him now. "But, if it was me, I would have let Jasper go. Just like you. I will always want him to love someone one as much as I love him. If it can't be me, then I will let him go."

They both took notice of the cars pulling into the church parking lot and knew their time was almost up. They both stood to leave when Jacob remembered the envelope still nestled in his pocket.

"Could you give this to her? It was suppose to be my wedding gift to her. Of course the letter is slightly different now."

He had forgotten all about the little wooden wolf until now, but he still wanted her to have it. He wanted her to have some little piece of what could have been to stay with her.

Alice took the envelope and gave him one last smile before she headed towards her car. She stopped once she hit the sidewalk and turned back towards him.

"You will be okay Jacob. One day, you will find someone, and she will make you sure of this choice…in a way only she can."

With that Alice was gone and Jacob was left hoping she was right, because right now he didn't know how to handle this change of plan.

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**I would like to say Thank you to my readers and reviewers! They mean so much. This is officially the end, let me know what you think by leaving a little bit o love. Or hate, if you so choose.**


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